Lacing-guide.



No. 664,005. Patented Dec. I8, I900.

L. A. ROBERTS.

LACING GUIDE.

(N0 Model.)

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NITED TATES '"ATENT FFicE.

LACI'NG-GUIDE'.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,005, dated December 18, 1900. A plicati fil d May 15,1900. Serial No. 16,827. (No models To all whom it may concern.-

"Be it known that I, LEWIS A. ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oarbondale, county of Lackawanna, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lacing-Guides; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, ref-' erence being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a pant of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in lacing-guides for shoes, adapted especially for use with a single fiat lacing, the object being to j provide a guide through which the lacing can loosening of the upper greatly facilitated by obviating the necessity of catching hold of the lacing between the guides.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will be now described, and the particular features of novelty pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe provided with my improved lacing-guide. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of one of the lacing-guides. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View of the same.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

The letter A indicates the shoe, B the lacing-opening, and O the lacing for drawing together the edges of the upper.

D indicates abase-plate, preferably of sheet metal, of substantially rectangular or other desired shape, having a central open or cutout portion cl and provided on opposite sides with downwardly-extending holding lugs or points 01, by which the plate maybe fastened to the face of the shoe-upper, as will be readily understood. At each end of the opening (1 the plate is bent upwardly to form housings E, open at the bottom and on the side toward the opening d, such housings constituting bearings for the journals of rollers F. With this construction said rollers may he slipped into place from the under side of the plate and will be held by the leather of the upper when the plate is secured thereon.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, a single flat lacing is employed, one end being secured at the lower end to the upper or one of the guides. Said lacing is passed around each of the other rollers and the free end held at the top of the shoe by any preferred fastening.

To prevent the edges of the lacing from becoming worn by contact with the edges of the housings or bearings E, each of the rollers is provided near its ends with a collar or ring G, against which the edge of the lacing runs. In order to keep the collars Gin place and prevent them slipping along the rollers when they are loose, as in the preferred construction, small incisions or cuts 01 are made in the plate D at or near the ends of the central opening and on opposite sides thereof, and the collars or rings G extend transversely into these recesses, as will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 2.

With a shoe embodying the present invention the wearer has only to grasp the upper end of the lacing to draw it tight throughout its whole length, and in removing the shoe if the upper end of the lacing be released the pressure occasioned by drawing the shoe off is all that is necessary to loosen the lacing throughout its length.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device such as described, the combination with the base secured to the shoe, the roller journaled in said base, and over which the lacing travels, and the rings on said rollers near its opposite ends, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a device such as described, the combination with the base provided with the penetrating points for securing it to the shoe, and

formed with a central opening having the cap or housing at each end, of the rollers journaled in said caps or housings; substantially as described.

3. In a device such as described, the combination with the base having the central opening, the downwardly-extending holdingpoints carried thereby, the cap or housing formed at each end of said opening, the roller journaled in said caps or housings, the loose rings or washers carried by said journals, and means for preventing the washers from mov- 5. The combination with a shoe-upper of a base-plate secured to the face thereof and 5 having a central opening with housings open on the bottom and inner sides at each end of the opening and constituting bearings, and a roller journaled in said bearings and held in place by the upper on which the base is se- 20 cured; substantially as described.

LEWIS A. ROBERTS.

\Vitnesses:

J. W. KILPATRICK, HENRY J. BRENNAN. 

